Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2somalia022008.html
UNITED NATIONS, February 20 -- The Security Council on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution re-authorizing the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia for six months. The resolution, drafted by the UK, was only half-heartedly supported by South African, whose Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo told Inner City Press that the UN Secretariat's failure to table an overdue report on creating a UN force reflected a lack of commitment to Somalia. It's a tough neighborhood, he said, like The Bronx, where some of us live. But it has to be dealt with, it has to be helped. Video here.
UK Ambassador John Sawers sought to convince reporters that there was little or no divergence of views in the Council, since Somalia's problems are so complicated that even in six months, a UN force is not likely. When Inner City Press asked if the six month African Union force roll-over made it less likely that the UN will act for Somalia in the short term, Amb. Sawers said "it is unlikely that an issue as complex as a peacekeeping effort in Somalia can be considered in just a couple of weeks." Video here, from Minute 1:59. But between the one month proposed by South Africa, and the six months pushed by the UK, it seems a compromise was possible but was not offered or reached. It really does matter, then, which country drafts and takes the lead on a Council resolution.
Meanwhile, on the case of Somali member of parliament Mohamud Ahmed Kulalihi, who states that guards of UNICEF beat him with the back of a rifle, nothing further has been said. On February 15 Inner City Press asked UN deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe about it, and later was told by UNICEF that an incident occurred and would be investigated. On the question of whether UNICEF's guards in Somalia, said to be local hires, are claming immunity, there has yet to be an answer.
